10 Oct 2019

October 10, 2019

Welcome to this week's AAP Medianet, featuring notable career moves and publication changes in the media industry, the Editor's pick for news release of the week and upcoming events. To keep with movements as they happen, follow @aapmedianet.

This Week's Media Movements

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will be welcoming four recruits to their Canberra bureau:

Angus Livingston as bureau chief
Jennifer Duke as economics correspondent
Anthony Galloway as foreign affairs and national security correspondent
Mick Foley as climate and energy reporter

Channel 10's MasterChef Australia announces new judges

Replacing George Calombaris, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan next year are Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.

Charlotte Valente has been appointed chief marketing officer at Seven West Media
Charlotte joins from Big Red Group, where she was the general manager of B2B.

Paul Merrill has departed from Bauer Media Australia after six years with the publisher
Paul was the editor-in-chief of 14 magazines, including Take 5 and Empire, and has left to pursue new opportunities.

Grant Denyer and Yvie Jones will be returning to Southern Cross Austereo
Grant and Yvie will be presenting HIT Summer Breakfast on the Hit Network for two weeks starting 9th December.

Scott Couchman is now the mornings’ host and operations manager at Hit 90.9 on the Gold Coast
Scott will be swapping time slots with Bella Frizza, who is now the afternoons' presenter.

Matt Doran will be joining Weekend Sunrise as a new host
Matt is replacing Basil Zempilas who wraps up his time on the program on the 12th October.

Strong Fitness Magazine Australia has launched its first edition
Strong Fitness Magazine Australia published their first issue last week, after its success in the US and Canada.

Good Food has launched its new monthly magazine
Good Food magazine will be available on the first Friday of each month as a supplement in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

2GB’s Ben Fordham Live program will now air during 4BC’s drive shift
Ben Fordham Live will be broadcasted on the Brisbane network every Monday at 2pm-5pm (AEST).

Perth Wildcats' Rhys Vague has joined 96FM Perth as their new sports reporter
Rhys will report on all the latest basketball news and insights for Botica’s Bunch for Breakfast program.

Breakfast duo, Alana McLean and Robbie Klitzing, will be relocating to Melbourne
RED FM’s two Breakfast presenters have decided to leave after two and a half years with the program. Robbie will be joining Gold 104.3 as a content assistant.

The Dave Noonan Show has been cancelled on Triple M Hobart
After 25 years of broadcasting, the last Dave Noonan Show will air on the 11th October.

SCA will be rebranding two radio networks under the Triple M and Hit Network
92.5 Gold FM will become Goldie’s 92.5 and 101.3 Sea will be Central Coast’s Hit101.3.

RMIT University’s The Swanston Gazette launches its first print edition
The university’s journalism society has released the publication’s first hard copy issue which is now available on campus.

Editor's Pick: Press Release of the Week

Youth Mental Health Getting Worse and Social Media Could Be To Blame

Image: Headspace

The National Youth Mental Health Foundation has published new data indicating that youth anxiety and paranoia is on the rise; social media being one of the prime causes. The data reveals that over sixty per cent of Australian youth believe that mental health is worsening in their generation, with almost forty per cent of respondents saying social media is one of the leading causes.

Read full story

Media Spotlight

Nikolina Koevska Kharoufeh, Senior Guest Producer of Fitzy and Wippa Show

Nikolina is the senior guest producer of Sydney's Fitzy and Wippa Show and also hosts her own Late Night's program across Australia. She previously worked as the drive announcer for The Edge 96.1FM before becoming a weather reporter for Sky News Australia. In her spare time, she writes for several different travel publications and has a regular travel segment on Nine's Weekend Today Show. Connect with Nikolina at @nikolinakoevska.

What does a typical day look like for you as a breakfast radio producer?
It’s an early one! I get to work by 4:30am. As a guest producer, I scan the news, read the paper and prepare any bios we need for the show that morning. Between 5:15am-6:00am (show start time) it’s a quick meeting to plan the show and then a rush of gathering information, audio grabs and chasing last-minute guests. During the show, I look after guests, answer the phones, brief the team on bios. Post-show, from 9am, there may be a few pre-recorded interviews or segments, but it’s usually a time when we start to think of tomorrow morning’s show.

What are some key skills/talents that make a great producer?
Working ahead is important as radio is incredibly fast-paced. Most of your work is usually just in preparation for the next day’s show. Although this is the case, a GOOD producer is at the same time working ahead. I have a spreadsheet calendar that helps me do this. You also need to know your show and understand the audience of the show and the type of content and guests that work for them.

In a press release, what would a breakfast radio producer find most useful?
Make it easy for me! I receive dozens of emails each week with segment and interview pitches. It’s my job to sort through them all. When putting together a press release try to keep the email short – do not copy and entire 500-word press release to the body of the email and expect me to read it. Attach the press release to the email as a PDF and just include the important points in the email itself.

Highlight the interview opportunity, DO NOT just write ‘Interview Opportunity for Fitzy and Wippa’ in the subject line; know who you’re pitching to – know the show, know what we do and angle your pitch that way and understand radio.

It’s important to understand that for a breakfast radio show an interview opportunity is about the talent available and not necessarily the brand or push attached to it. This usually comes secondary. If you are pushing talent as part of a brand pitch focus on this. We are always happy to credit the content but the talent is what we are really interested in.

Upcoming Media Events

World Mental Health Day
Thursday 10th October, Worldwide
Organised by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), this day encourages awareness and open conversations around mental health issues.

2019 Nikon-Walkley Press Photography Finalist Announcements (right)
Thursday 10th October, Sydney & Melbourne
With three finalists now selected, the event will recognise the work of photographers across news, sports, portraiture and photographic essays.

Modern Marketing Summit Sydney
Thursday, 10th October, Sydney
This event will explore new concepts in modern marketing while uncovering new trends, technologies, and case studies to propel a business strategy's further.

‘Together Towards Tomorrow’ Survivorship Conference (left)
Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th October, Gold Coast
Around 250 Queenslanders will attend Breast Cancer Network Australia’s conference to share and unite their experiences with breast cancer.